Small towns hide secrets. They’re typically really good at it too because the smaller the town it seems the darker the secret they are trying to hide. If you grew up in a tiny Midwest town like I did you would know this to be gospel. Southern noir or Southern Gothic is a special sort of genre that when done right shines a sinister light on those secrets. Add some good old good vs evil to the mix and the supernatural and you’ve got something special. In the case of todays series you had the best of all of these mixed into a twisted, beautiful, epic masterpiece that came happened to be co-launched by a master of horror named Sam Raimi and a gent more known for solving mysteries than writing them… a Hardy Boy himself Shaun Cassidy. The show is one of my favorite TV series of all time, American Gothic. And on this episode of Horror TV Shows We Miss, I’m going to give American Gothic all the love it never got when it aired way back in 1995. So let’s drive on into Trinity, South Carolina. But make sure we don’t speed…that Sheriff is a real devil.

American Gothic premiered, surprisingly, on CBS primetime on Sept 22^nd, 1995. The series had a hell of a pedigree having executive producers in the guise of Sam Raimi and Bob Tapert, the gents responsible for Evil Dead. It was the brain child of 70s heartthrob Shaun Cassidy, his first TV pilot and one he had written while performing on Broadway. American Gothic would be the first of many series Cassidy would be the creator for including genre fare like Invasion and Roar.

I say it was a surprising home for the series as it wasn’t normal for a horror genre series to be on the network. This would eventually change with supernatural shows like Ghost Whisperer and Evil. But American Gothic was fairly unique on the channel at the time where the only vaguely comparable show would be Picket Fences which dealt with an oddball town where a lot of strange things happened. American Gothic was the far more metal version of this concept. The story and mythology within the series was unique as well while still using some aspects familiar to fans of the genre.

The show takes place in the already you know something is up named “Trinity” South Carolina. The pilot introduces us immediately to the Temple family (again with the religious overtones) who are poor and broken in spirit and in the wallet. Caleb Temple is celebrating his birthday with a cake he made himself along side his alcoholic father Gage and his mentally scarred sister Merlyn who can only say the words “someone is at the door.” When Merlyn goes into one of her fits her father becomes violent, and Caleb has to hide them both away from him. During a massive rain storm Caleb runs out of the house to find help, leaving Merlyn to be hit in the head by her father. As if by magic, the town sheriff Lucas Buck and his deputy are there and journey to the house. Lucas arrests Gage and while thinking no one is watching, finishes off the still barely alive Merlyn by breaking her neck. This is actually witnessed by his deputy Ben.

As the most horrible birthday ever continues, Caleb is taken to the hospital where he crosses paths with Matt Crower, the big city doctor come to the small town to work. Matt tries to be a friend to the boy which puts him in direct competition with Lucas who has designs on Caleb. Over the course of the series we find out that Matt was responsible for a horrible car crash while driving drunk that cost him his family and his reputation, something Lucas uses a number of times against him.

Strange things start happening to Caleb while at the hospital, noises, voices, and visions. Eventually Caleb sees his sister Merlyn, now an ethereal spirt, perhaps an angel, appearing to him and warning him about Lucas. She can now speak and watch over her brother in a way she couldn’t in life.

At the same time, in another town far away, Caleb’s remaining family Gail Emory wakes from a nightmare knowing that something is wrong back home. She immediately packs up and heads back to her hometown of Trinity to find answers as this was also the town where her parents mysteriously died. It’s her meeting with Lucas which gives us the great line “That’s Lucas Buck…Buck, with a B.”

Meanwhile, Ben is having some issues with the fact he witnessed Lucas kill Merlyn. Lucas threatens him in a fantastic scene and then gives him some money to go get drunk and think about what he saw. It’s at the bar we are introduced to Selena Coombs, a woman with a dual nature that’s deeper than Two Face in Batman. She’s the local sex kitten and also an elementary school teacher. And Lucas uses her to seduce Ben that night.

Lucas appears with Ben’s lucky pen and tells a distraught Gage he needs to give all of his paternal rites to Lucas over Caleb. After a guilt pounding conversation he leaves Gage with the pen and his own broken thoughts. The next morning, Ben is driving home in shame and Doctor Crower discovers on a visit to the jail that Gage is dead, Ben’s pen sticking out of his throat…possibly self-inflicted…possibly not.

As Lucas stalks down the halls of the hospital he discovers that Caleb has fled and when no one else can see the bloody written words “Go Home” on the door of his room, Lucas can. At this point we’re pretty much a 100 percent that something is beyond normal with Lucas. Gail and Dr. Crower head off to find Caleb who they have figured out is headed back to his only refuge left, his home. It’s there where Merlyn appears and after speaking with Caleb warns him that someone is at the door, and that’s when Lucas bursts in, coming after the boy once more. Caleb is terrified and runs upstairs. Finding his fathers liquor he eventually sets the house on fire after throwing a match he still had from his birthday candles to ignite the flames. He escapes again, into the rain, as Gail and the Doctor confront Lucas. Lucas cries out for Caleb in anger from the window as the building burns.

That’s a hell of an opening, pun intended. And American Gothic doesn’t let up after that for the entire rest of its run.

Over its 22-episode run (3 of which never aired on CBS) the series evolves into a battle for the soul of Caleb Temple. We learn that Gage wasn’t actually Caleb’s father, but Lucas was due to an attack/rape that was witnessed by Merlyn as a little girl. This was what caused her to become mute and nearly catatonic repeating the phrase “Someone’s at the door” in connection to Lucas. Gage’s abuse to his children intensified over this and Caleb’s mother Judith killed herself after Caleb’s birth.

Merlyn, as an avenging spirit and possible angel tries different ways to stop Lucas who has been in charge of the town of Trinity for a very long time and seemingly doesn’t age during any of this. Funnily enough, no one ever seems to comment or be weirded out that Lucas doesn’t age. But man does he know how to work a long coat like a champ and those vests too. (I was a fan of Midnight Caller…don’t judge me.)

A new doctor arrives in town by the name of Billy Peale when Doctor Crower leaves, who falls in love with Selena and tries to discover Lucas’s secret as well. Things work out about as well as you’d expect with Selena.

American Gothic’s dark heart is human nature and what is good and what is evil. Each of us has both in us and it’s the battle of which side will we let win or if we are strong enough to find a balance. It’s also a tale about who we really are underneath. That’s why a small-town setting is such a perfect place for a story like this to play out as, if you were like me and grew up in one, you know just how full of hypocrisy and lies they can be. The shroud of religion and false piety runs deep as a way to cover up what you are really up to and to wash away any sense of blame. Lucas doesn’t let you off that easy.

Shaun Cassidy and Sam Raimi blended together a great cast, great story, and great mythology within American Gothic. And sadly with the series’ life being cut so short we didn’t get to delve deeper into it. Things weren’t black and white, and everything was a shade of gray in this show because the characters were wonderfully imperfect and that included the children as well as the “good” side of things with Merlyn who has a journey of her own through the season.

Lucas Buck’s powers are mysterious, and we’re only hinted at where they come from. There’s some HP Lovecraft esque things happening here as the theory of what the pineal gland is comes out, black magic is hinted at, and a power that’s born and reborn in the next generation. We see this when Lucas is nearly killed by a blow to his forehead where the gland is, and Caleb is suddenly imbued with his powers.

All of that power within a ten-year-old boy goes about as well as you would think and even doubly so when he realizes there’s another Baby Buck on the way due to a dalliance between Lucas and Gail. This information is brought to him by Selena who, when the king falls in the form of Lucas, zeroes in on the prince. This is probably one of the more eyebrow raising parts of the show as the scenes begins in a Mrs. Robinson esque/Graduate shot which heavily implies that Selena is willing to be around for anything Caleb needs as his powers grow. Yes, he’s 10 and yes, she’s his teacher. It’s as dark and twisted as it sounds. I think this heavier nature in American Gothic was part of why it wasn’t able to last at CBS. It really would have flourished on cable I suspect.

Gail Emory’s story as it played out was also interesting. Gail comes originally to help Caleb but also to find out the truth about her parents deaths. She soon discovers the perfect memories of her parents’ lives aren’t what she remembers. She and Lucas have a dance of love and hate with Lucas actually giving her the thing she was wanting, the truth even though he warns her she won’t like it. He also calls her out on what drives her as a reporter and her desire to find out what secrets lay in hiding within Trinity. I really enjoyed this part of the show because Gail won’t admit that there is an aspect of her that is a voyeur and wants to see what others are hiding. When he shows her that bit of truth about her parents the first time Gail has a very…interesting reaction. It’s a bit of what makes Lucas who he is as well…he knows all the secrets and that’s part of his power.

Let’s talk about Lucas Buck a bit more. Lucas is one of my favorite TV characters and it’s because of how he plays. Ben, when Lucas is possibly dead, realizes just what Lucas actually does for the city of Trinity. There are a lot of deals of course, but Lucas actually does take care of the residence of the town in surprising ways. Keeping them safe, keeping them happy, and keeping Trinity in a way, blissful. Lucas may or may not be the devil. There’s no way to tell how long he’s been around because, like I said, he doesn’t age, and he’s been a part of Trinity for a while. He does do deals, but he also speaks about free will. He doesn’t really “force” anyone into anything. It’s their choice. He makes it very clear he will eventually collect on whatever the bargain was for. Lucas is, oddly enough, fair.

Cassidy and Raimi were a great team with this series with Raimi bringing his signature flair for weird camera angles, surprisingly terrifying images (Gail’s parents erupting from their graves was REALLY effective and very Army of Darkness/Evil Dead) and using sound to add to the unease. There’s a country quality to the music but also a rumbly, digeridoo type sound that’s similar to a growl and snorting of a bull combined that’s used I really think is neat. Cassidy wrote a number of the episodes himself besides creating the show and producing and I love the fact that he worked in a Hardy Boys reference from Lucas when his coffin is opened.

Let’s talk about the actors who really helped make this show special. Gary Cole simply ruled as Lucas Buck. He brought a sense of style to the role and also could go from charming to terrifying with just a glance. You never really knew where Lucas’s heart might lay. Was he truly wanting to be Caleb’s father or use him? Did he love Gail or was she just a corruptible soul who could give him a baby if he needed it. You never really were sure but that’s why it worked. And did I mention the swagger?

Everyone knows Sarah Paulson thanks to her massive career in shows like American Horror Story, but she showed in American Gothic the level of acting that would become her signature. She was fantastic as Merlyn in this and was a great foil for Lucas. She and Lucas Black had great chemistry and I really loved her role here as the avenging angel who never got to truly live. It’s interesting to me that American Gothic was also the first horror series I can think of that involved resurrecting the ghost of a serial killer and having them run amuck…something that would happen in later seasons of American Horror Story. Here it would be Paulson’s Merlyn who has to take on The Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo. Speaking of Lucas Black, my god that kid was great in this. You probably know him best from his film work in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and his role on NCIS New Orleans, but I first saw him in this series. I mean his name is Lucas Black…. he was meant to be in this. And he was perfect as Lucas’s son who was torn between the light and the darkness.

Paige Turco was fantastic as Gail Emory. Again, her journey was an interesting one that would have been great to see proceed as she seems to have inherited a bit of power herself. And I think that’s something that Lucas probably knew and would be interested in.

Jake Weber as Doctor Matt Crower was also great as the tortured doctor who is just trying to make up for the tragedy his drinking cost. Weber would wind up in another supernatural based series with Medium starring alongside Patricia Arquette but a lot of you probably remember him more for his turn in Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake in 2004.

Nick Searcy as Lucas’s deputy Ben always looked like he was going to be sick due to the amount of anxiety he was dealing with and that’s about perfect for the character. Searcy was great in this and has been in a ton of films and TV over the years, but you probably known him best from his work in Justified opposite the crazy Tarantino film student Timothy Olyphant.

Last but certainly not least when it comes to series regulars is Brenda Bakke who played Selena Coombs. She brought it with this role, bringing an old-fashioned type of sultry that was Mae West and Femme Fatale from hell combined. Bakke is another actor who has a ton of work under her belt including an episode of Brisco County Jr.

Speaking of Brisco…guest stars were a plenty on American Gothic and this would include a number of regulars from Raimi’s cadre of regular collaborators. Bruce Campbell would appear as an ill-fated police officer. Ted Raimi, Sam’s brother, would appear as well as Arnold Vosloo. Vosloo is more known for his role in The Mummy as said Mummy. But he and Raimi would work together when he took over the role of Peyton Westlake in the Darkman direct to DVD films as well as his role in Hard Target. Other notable guest stars would include Amy Steele, Veronica Cartright, Melissa McBride, and W Morgan Sheppard, all of them genre vets.

As I said, CBS didn’t keep American Gothic around and it would suffer a fate similar to Firefly years later. Episodes would be shown out of sequence, when they were shown at all. Fans like myself were left confused when the supposed finale was aired as a sort of special on CBS for the summer. But what they showed wasn’t even the final episodes of the season, those weren’t actually aired. After that the show was gone forever.

I actually never got to see the entire run of the series until it was released on DVD in 2005 which I immediately bought, and which is out of print now. And even here with all the episodes together they actually aren’t in order…at least on the American release. You can find the actual listing of how the episodes should be viewed online.

American Gothic is available to purchase on Vudu as well as Amazon Prime and AppleTV to stream and if you can’t tell I highly HIGHLY recommend it. It deserved far better than it got, and we viewers deserved a lot more of it. It’s gotten a cult following now as more and more people discover it. It’s touching, disturbing, scary, and naughty as all get out. You should definitely take a visit to Trinity some time soon and say howdy to the sheriff, he’s no Andy Griffith but he’ll make sure you have a hell of a time.

A couple previous episodes of Horror TV Shows We Miss can be seen below. If you’d like to see more, and check out the other shows we have to offer, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

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Bob Odenkirk’s career has taken a unique path. Although he started in the comedy world, he would take his already-acclaimed career to new heights when he played Saul Goodman on the immensely popular series, Breaking Bad. And while shows like that and Better Call Saul still played on his comedy strengths, Odenkirk would go for something different when he starred in the action film, Nobody, which came from the writer and stunt crew who brought us John Wick.

According to Deadline, Odenkirk is set to work with Nobody screenwriter Derek Kolstad again on a new project that is going to be helmed by Free Fire and High Rise director Ben Wheatley. The film is titled Normal and “follows Ulysses (Odenkirk), who is thrust into the temporary role of the sheriff for the small sleepy town Normal after the previous one’s untimely death. When the town’s bank is robbed by an out-of-town couple, Ulysses arrives on the scene to find that the town is hiding much more sinister deep-seated secrets under its surface and everyone – from the bartender to the priest – is in on it. And now Ulysses, who’s up-till-now focused only on running away from the demons of his past, must uncover the full extent of this criminal conspiracy.”   

Marc Provissiero, who had also produced Nobody, as well as the recent Jennifer Lawrence comedy, No Hard Feelings, will be producing this film along with Odenkirk and Kolstad. Though Odenkirk went through stunt training for Nobody, he also feels he’s not built for something like a Marvel movie. However, he was definitely excited to dabble in the action genre again, “I was very surprised by Nobody. I had initiated that project because I had a feeling that the character I was developing in Better Call Saul was the kind of character you see in an action film. He has earnest desires and he was willing to sacrifice himself…I still train multiple times a week and if I get my way you’re going to see me doing more action. I found the action sequences a great deal of fun and close to doing sketch comedy…I love the early Jackie Chan films which had humour in them. I’d like to get that in future.”

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So, it’s been twenty years since the release of Jared Hess’ breakout debut comedy- Napoleon Dynamite. Last week, we did some great anniversary interviews, and this week we’re taking a deeper dive into the meaning behind this cult classic. On paper, this is a movie about a dorky high-school kid in a rural Idaho town who helps his best friend run for class president while looking for love and dealing with his creepy uncle. But, if I believed that was all this movie was, I’d be talking about something else- but here we are.

Now, this is a movie that most everybody has either seen or at the very least is familiar with. And, while I agree that not every movie has to be some deep and robust metaphor for life and the human condition, I do think that there is an interesting angle for Napoleon Dynamite that hasn’t necessarily been explored yet.

What happens in the movie? A Dorky high school kid wants friends but doesn’t have any, he meets an exchange student who kind of has no choice but to hang out with him and they become pals. Napoleon lives with his wacky grandma and equally awkward Brother, Kip. When grandma goes on an ATV trip to the sand dunes and gets injured, Napoleon’s uncle Rico comes to house-sit while she recovers, and his arrival turns Napoleon’s world upside down.

Napoleon Dynamite is a lot of things but the movie and the character are never fake. Never putting on a prettier face to sell us something or make an impression- but that doesn’t mean that we can’t love it for what it is. And at the end of the day- through Napoleon’s struggle to make friends, then his struggle to keep those friends while his uncle ruins everybody’s life’s and eats all their steak, to eventually realizing that the true meaning of the story and the key to being happy in your own awkward and never perfect life- is just to keep being yourself and let the people that accept you find you in time- and eventually, even in the smallest towns, and even with the strangest people, everybody can make a friend.    

Watching this movie as an adult, I think I see Napoleon in a more earnest and more self-aware way. When I was 12 and laughing my head off at the sight of Napoleon dancing to Jamiroquai’s “Canned Heat” or nearly piss myself every time I look at that horrific drawing of Trisha- I look at those moments now as funny, but also reassuring. These incredibly hard to watch scenes of awkward connections and dry moments between even drier characters lets me see that that what Jared Hess wanted to spend $400,000 and a summer of intense heat and shooting schedules to tell us is that it’s okay to embarrass yourself, and it’s okay to be embarrassed. In fact, it’s better that way- because when it all comes down to it, we all just want to find our own slice of the world- and we all want our friends, no matter how few or how many, to be real and genuine friends. And maybe the only to find that, is to be real and genuine ourselves.

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The Motion Picture Association ratings board gave Zack Snyder’s sci-fi war film Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver and the Blumhouse horror production Imaginary PG-13 ratings this week, but they also sat through a movie that gave them some rougher material to sit through: the psychological horror film Immaculate, which reunites Sydney Sweeney – whose credits include Euphoria, the recent romantic comedy release Anyone but You, and the upcoming Sony Marvel movie Madame Web – with Michael Mohan, who directed her in the erotic thriller The Voyeurs. Immaculate is set to reach theatres on March 22nd, and it now sports an R rating for strong and bloody violent content, grisly images, nudity and some language.

Scripted by Andrew Lobel, Immaculate sees Sweeney taking on the role of Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Her warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside is soon interrupted as it becomes clearer to Cecilia that her new home harbors some dark and horrifying secrets.

Simona Tabasco (The White Lotus), Alvaro Morte (Money Heist), Benedetta Porcaroli (Baby), and Dora Romano (The Hand of God) are also in the cast.

Sweeney produced the film through her company Fifty-Fifty Films, alongside Jonathan Davino. Also producing are Teddy Schwarzman and Michael Heimler of Black Bear and Middle Child Pictures’ David Bernad, who developed the project with Sweeney after they worked together on the Emmy-winning series The White Lotus. Will Greenfield and Black Bear’s John Friedberg and Christopher Casanova serve as executive producers. Black Bear provided the financing.

Are you interested in seeing Immaculate on the big screen next month? What do you think of it earning an R rating for strong and bloody violent content, grisly images, nudity and some language? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

Religious horror ranks down there as one of my least favorite sub-genres, but I’m willing to give Immaculate a chance… and I have to admit, the fact that it has earned an R rating for that list of reasons does make me more interested in checking it out.

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PLOT: In the Old Stone Age, a disparate gang of early humans band together in search of a new land. But when they suspect a malevolent, mystical being is hunting them down, the clan are forced to confront a danger they never envisaged.

REVIEW: When choosing a debut film, it takes a certain amount of cajónes to choose one set during the Paleolithic era. Just from a budget standpoint, the task seems impossible. But add in the difficulties of getting an audience to connect with your story, and it seems like something only a crazy person would do. But somehow director Andrew Cumming really pulls it off. In fact, I was shocked to discover that this was made by a first-timer because there’s such a command of the screen. Though, I’d argue that Out of Darkness is more of a story of survival than a straight-up horror film.

The story follows six people during the Stone Age, as they venture across a harsh landscape, in search of a new home. They struggle to find food, and the bonds within the group are frayed. It doesn’t help when a mysterious creature appears and starts to pick them off at night. It’s a basic premise but it works. There’s a good amount of tension and rarely loses its intrigue. I wanted to see these people finish their journey and start a new life.

The performances are mostly good and the ones that aren’t are still passable. The fact that it’s in a foreign language helps to mask some of the awkward exchanges. Only the keenest observer will notice anything’s amiss. It’s Safia Oakley-Green‘s film and she absolutely owns it as Beyha. She was able to convey so much while saying very little, which is a massive skill set for this type of role. She’s quiet yet commanding and it’s completely believable that she has it in her to take charge of the situation. I was shocked to learn that this is her first film, as she feels like a veteran. Can’t wait to see her do more.

Others fall into pretty stereotypical archetypes but I enjoyed the changes. Geirr (Kit Young) serves as Beyah’s only true friend yet, despite the harsh events, he becomes softer as the story progresses. Everyone in the group has these established roles, and yet their paths stray far from what is expected of them. This further showcases the really solid script from Ruth Greenberg. There are some aspects I found to be a little tired but it mostly kept me on my toes.

The cinematography in Out of Darkness is top-tier, with a great understanding of how to utilize darkness to enhance the mood. I loved the opening scene by the campfire, as they cut to each person the tale is concerning. There’s an authenticity to nearly every detail that is truly astounding. Whether it’s the massive landscapes that make the land look entirely barren, to the detail of their clothes, it’s hard to believe that this isn’t a much larger epic.

I’ll admit, the twist of the creature’s identity didn’t entirely work for me. They don’t go too ludicrous with it, but it felt a little underwhelming, given how much it was built up. I won’t get into too much detail for fear of spoilers, but it came off as a little preachy. And this continues a trend that I absolutely hate of children being absolutely terrible characters. Young Heron makes really dumb decisions and the message didn’t land because of it. I get what they were going for, but it would require completely ignoring elements of the first hour to make it satisfying. That kid made terrible decisions and nothing will convince me otherwise. But none of it is enough to ruin the overall impact of the rest of the film.

As can be expected, the story is really simple but the tension and cinematography carry it. It feels apropos for a film in this time period to have a “back to the basics” approach. Out of Darkness revels in tension and, much like its characters, never lets the viewer rest.  This makes for a heart-pounding 90 minutes and one that will stick with you long after the credits roll.

OUT OF DARKNESS IS IN THEATERS NATIONWIDE ON FEBRUARY 9TH, 2024.

Iola Evans

GREAT

8

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Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been spending the last couple of years trying to avoid James Bond questions since it was said he was testing for the new role. The Bullet Train star stated, “I just focus on the things I can have in my hands right now. What’s in front of me right now.“ What’s in front of him is his next go at comic book movies with the Spider-man-related film, Kraven The Hunter. The Sony film, made in association with Marvel, was originally set to release last year. However, the strikes would delay the movie to late this summer on August 30, 2024.

While we wait to see what happens on the James Bond front, Taylor-Johnson has lined up a new project that will reunite him with his Outlaw King director, David Mackenzie. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Taylor-Johnson will be starring in Fuze, a bank heist movie with a bit of a twist. According to THR, the plot of the film revolves around “the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb at a London construction site, which sparks a mass evacuation as bomb disposal experts descend to defuse it. But the distraction also provides the perfect cover for a bank heist.” Mackenzie will direct the movie from an original screenplay that was written by Ben Hopkins, who previously penned the Willem Dafoe film, Inside.

The director, Mackenzie, spoke of his excitement in developing this movie with Hopkins, “I had the idea of combining all the high stakes of an unexploded bomb with that of a bank robbery — clashing these two genres to create as much pressure as possible — in a context that feels as real as possible. Ben Hopkins took those ingredients and cooked up the compelling script that we are now taking into production.”

The European production group Anton is producing, financing and selling. UTA Independent Film Group and WME Independent will co-rep U.S. rights with Anton. Gillian Berrie, who also worked on Outlaw King and the movie, Tetris, will produce Fuze through her and Mackenzie’s production company Sigma Films along with Sebastien Raybaud and Callum Grant for Anton. Hell or High Water cinematographer Giles Nuttgens will lens the movie.

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With 22 seasons and more than 400 episodes, Family Guy is one of the longest-running animated series ever. It launched Seth MacFarlane into the stratosphere of American pop culture. After a cancellation, the show’s cult status only grew, forcing the show to return to Fox, where it continues. And as far as creator McFarlane is concerned, the show will keep going.

Speaking with The Wrap, McFarlane said that Family Guy hasn’t really been given a reason to go off the air. Even after its numerous controversies — mostly concerning critics targeting the show’s supposed transphobia and misogyny, not to mention its warped “hot takes” on pop culture, at different points of its run — the show continues to have a following. “It’s still surviving and thriving. It still has a sizable audience and is a perfect example of there being an appetite for something. So we continue to feed the beast…There’s no indication that the show is going to end anytime soon.”

Family Guy has gotten by for the better part of its 25 years because of this audience, who clearly love the absurdities, off-kilter humor and, yes, even the cutaways. That it usually never turns up on “best of” lists but remains on TV does speak to this crowd. So what makes it endure? To this, MacFarlane referred to the landmark sitcom The Honeymooners. “I would never ever compare these two shows… But I always loved the answer that Jackie Gleason gave when he was asked about how that show endured with only 39 episodes. And he just said, ‘Because they were funny.’ I don’t know that our answer would be any different.”

Certainly there is a little bit of The Honeymooners going on in Quahog, but Family Guy worked best initially as a sort of hybrid of The Simpsons and All in the Family, with an alcoholic dog and a football-headed toddler bent on global domination thrown into the mix. So maybe a little bit of Pinky & the Brain – and whatever other shows featured martini-loving talking pooches – too…

Do you still watch Family Guy? Why do you think it has been on the air for nearly 25 years? Give us your take below, along with the funniest Family Guy moment.

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It was reported last month that Black Panther director Ryan Coogler would be reteaming with frequent collaborator Michael B. Jordan for a secret movie. Anticipation was high, with several major studios eager to snap up the project, but Deadline has reported that Warner Bros. has walked away as the victor following a heated bidding war.

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the project has been described as a period thriller involving vampires, which certainly sounds exciting. It’s also said to contain a few anime influences, which isn’t a surprise as Michael B. Jordan is known to be a big anime fan. Ryan Coogler will direct the project in addition to penning the script, and will also produce through his Proximity Media banner. Coogler has worked with Jordan on each of his movies, including Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

The project is said to have a budget somewhere in the range of $90 million. Sources have said that the movie is being fast-tracked and could start shooting as early as April in New Orleans. In addition to Warner Bros., Universal and Sony were both involved in the bidding, but it wound up coming down between Warners and Universal. Sony may have dropped out after they successfully acquired Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later project.

More to come…

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Disney CEO Bob Iger has confirmed that The Mandalorian & Grogu will be the first movie of the new Star Wars slate, which means that it will likely hit theaters in 2026.

Disney currently has two Star Wars movies on the schedule for that year: May 22, 2026 and December 18, 2026. Bob Iger’s comments seem to indicate that The Mandalorian & Grogu will fill that first slot, but as this is Star Wars we’re talking about, anything could happen. We’ve seen more than a few release dates shuffled around.

The Mandalorian & Grogu will be directed by Jon Favreau, who will also produce alongside Kathleen Kennedy and Dave Filoni. Production is expected to kick off later this year. “I have loved telling stories set in the rich world that George Lucas created,” Favreau said. “The prospect of bringing the Mandalorian and his apprentice Grogu to the big screen is extremely exciting.” Kathleen Kennedy added, “Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have ushered into Star Wars two new and beloved characters, and this new story is a perfect fit for the big screen.“

In addition to The Mandalorian movie, we’ve also got Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s post-Rise of Skywalker film about Rey (Daisy Ridley) rebuilding the Jedi Order. It’s likely that film will fill the Dec 18, 2024 slot. Dave Filoni is also developing a New Republic movie, which will tie together the stories featured in The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and The Book of Boba Fett.

The next project will be directed by James Mangold (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) and take place 25,000 years before the Skywalker Saga and explore the first Jedi and the discovery of the Force. “It was something that Jim [Mangold] immediately sparked to, and I think it’s a really nice compliment to what we’re doing with moving into the future with Rey, and then understanding a bit more of where this all came from,” Kennedy explained. “Because it will be at the heart of creating the new Jedi Order, so to get a real sense of where that might have began with the dawn of the Jedi could be pretty cool.“

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It’s official! Director Fede Alvarez‘s new addition to the xenomorph canon is titled Alien: Romulus. The title was revealed via an updated release schedule put out by Disney following the company’s Q1 Earnings report. Originally designed to debut on Hulu, Disney has pivoted to an August 16, 2024 theatrical release date for the movie, which bodes well for its quality. But, with no trailer released (yet – that may change on Super Bowl Sunday), what else do we know about Fede Alvarez’s new Alien movie?

YOUNG CHARACTERS IN PERIL

Alvarez put young characters through the wringer in his films Evil Dead (2013) and Don’t Breathe, and it looks like he’s going to be doing exactly the same thing in Alien: Romulus. Every announced cast member in this film seems to be in their 20s (going by birthdates available online), and The Hollywood Reporter says that “as opposed to the other movies which focused on adults in corporate, militaristic and scientific roles, this now-ninth installment of the franchise will focus on a group of young people. On a distant colony, the group finds themselves in a fight for their lives with the titular alien, a creature known as a Xenomorph, whose race propagates by implanting eggs into people’s stomachs via face-huggers, with the juveniles eventually violently bursting out of the host’s chest.” Will this be the Alien equivalent of a slumber party slasher?

The cast consists of Cailee Spaeny, who’s currently riding high off the success of Priscilla, and will next be seen in Alex Garland’s Civil War, David Jonsson (Industry), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), Aileen Wu (Away from Home), and Isabela Merced (Rosaline).

THE OTHER IDEAS

There were several directions the Alien franchise could have gone after the release of 2017’s Alien: Covenant. Although that film didn’t go over well with fans or critics, it did okay at the box office ($240 million worldwide) and Alien director Ridley Scott wanted to make a direct sequel. A chance to wrap up the Alien prequel trilogy he had begun with Prometheus and continued with Alien: Covenant. So that could have happened. Alternatively, the studio could have chosen to revive the Alien 5 project Neill Blomkamp had been developing, which would have brought Sigourney Weaver back as franchise heroine Ripley and given Michael Biehn’s Hicks character from Aliens a different fate than the one we had seen in Alien 3. Blomkamp’s ideas had a lot of fan support (and support from Weaver and Biehn), but it was put on ice because Scott wanted the focus to be on his prequel trilogy. Which ran into a dead end anyway. Another filmmaker who wanted to make an Alien sequel that would have brought Weaver back as Ripley was Walter Hill, who has been a producer on every Alien movie (and got writing credits on Aliens and Alien 3). Hill wrote a 50-page Alien 5 treatment with fellow franchise producer David Giler, who has since passed away, but somehow it didn’t gain any traction. So by getting his Alien movie into production, Alvarez has beaten competition from the likes of Ridley Scott, Neill Blomkamp, and Walter Hill.

THE PITCH STUCK WITH RIDLEY SCOTT

We may not know exactly what Alvarez’s story is, but we do know the pitch made an impact on Ridley Scott, who is producing the movie that could be called Alien: Romulus. Apparently Alvarez told Scott his idea for how to approach a new Alien movie years ago and it was stuck with him. In 2021, Scott called Alvarez and asked him if he was still willing to make that Alien movie. Obviously he was. 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell had said that they decided to move forward with the project “purely off the strength of Fede’s pitch”, as it’s “just a really good story with a bunch of characters you haven’t seen before.”

NO CONNECTION TO OTHER ALIEN FILMS

Sources say that the script Alvarez has written with his frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues doesn’t have any connection to the previous Alien movies – except, of course, for the presence of the Xenomorph. So we shouldn’t expect to see any tie-ins with the Scott prequels, the adventures of Ripley, or the Predator crossovers. However, doesn’t the story about a distant colony being stricken with a Xenomorph problem sound a lot like what happened on LV-426 before Ripley and the Colonial Marines showed up in Aliens? This is only speculation, but Alvarez could be cooking up a surprise “mid-quel” that takes place within the timeframe of Aliens. The story of the downfall of LV-426. But, maybe it really is a completely different colony. Maybe the sources aren’t trying to throw us off the trail and the movie really doesn’t have any connection to previous installments.

SET BETWEEN ALIEN AND ALIENS

Despite the alleged lack of connection to other films in the franchise, we know that the story is set between the events of the original Alien and Aliens. Cailee Spaeny told Variety the film is supposed to “slot in between” those two movies, but of course she couldn’t go into detail about how or why it fits in there. This doesn’t kill the speculation that this could be about the downfall of LV-426, but it also stirs up speculation that the movie could be a variation of what we saw in the video game Alien: Isolation, which was about Ellen Ripley’s daughter Amanda investigating her disappearance and ending up crossing paths with a Xenomorph on a space station. It’s not likely that this would be a direct adaptation of Alien: Isolation, but it could be drawing some degree of inspiration from the game.

THEATRICAL RELEASE

Unlike last year’s new Predator movie Prey, the new Alien movie is going to be released theatrically, with the Mouse House giving the film an August 16, 2024 date. This is similar to what the studio did with Barbarian, which grossed $45 million on a $4.5 million budget, and their recent The Boogeyman, which has already raked in $25 million and counting. Many think Prey would have been a blockbuster had it gotten a theatrical release, as people still prefer to see their scary movies in a dark theater. As anyone who’s ever watched an Alien film theatrically can tell you, that’s always the best way.

RIDLEY SCOTT’S REVIEW

According to Alvarez, Scott has already seen the completed version of Alien: Romulus, and praised it, calling it “f**king great.”

TV SERIES

While Alien: Romulus may be destined for theaters, we’ll still be getting some xenomorph content on Hulu, with Noah Hawley’s (Fargo) Alien TV series in production. That show is set on Earth, with FX CEO John Landgraf teasing that the series takes place about seventy years from now, and will not feature any characters from the movies. However, the infamous Weylan-Yutani corporation will still be involved. Currently, the show has no release date and likely will only premiere after the new Alien movie comes out.

Are you looking forward to watching a new Alien movie that leans into pure horror territory as Fede Alvarez sets the Xenomorph lose on a group of young colony residents? Share your thoughts on this project by leaving a comment below.

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